Samson’s wife has been given to another man, so he burns the Philistine harvest with three hundred foxes and firebrands; they retaliate; the men of Judah — three thousand of them — come not to fight the Philistines but to tie up Samson and hand him over. The Spirit falls, the ropes burn off, and with a donkey’s jawbone he kills a thousand men. Then, dying of thirst, he does something he has never done before: he prays.
A study in Judges 15 · Arthur Baldwin · StandUp4Jesus.Org · 7 min read
As They Did Unto Me, So Have I Done
“Then three thousand men of Judah went to the top of the rock Etam, and said to Samson, Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? what is this that thou hast done unto us? And he said unto them, As they did unto me, so have I done unto them.”
Judges 15:11
Look at what the oppression has done to Judah. When their own God-given champion strikes the enemy, three thousand men of Judah come out — to arrest him. “The Philistines are rulers over us” is said as though it were simply the weather. A people can be beaten so long that they start to police their rescuers on their captors’ behalf. Samson’s whole campaign, meanwhile, is personal — tit for tat — not a war of faith. God is using a private grudge.
“Had the Israelites been ready to unite with Samson and follow up the victory, they might at this time have freed themselves from the power of their oppressors. But they had become dispirited and cowardly. They had neglected the work which God commanded them to perform.”
Ellen G. White · Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 564
The Spirit Of The LORD Came Mightily Upon Him
“And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands. And he found a new jawbone of an ass… and slew a thousand men therewith.”
Judges 15:14-15
Bound with new ropes and handed to a shouting enemy, Samson is at his lowest — and that is when the Spirit comes “mightily.” The strength is not in his muscles or his hair as such; it is God, arriving. He picks up the first thing to hand, a fresh jawbone, and the fight is over. The same power that dropped Jericho’s wall works through a farm-yard bone in a bitter man’s fist.
Heaps Upon Heaps
“And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men.”
Judges 15:16
His victory chant is a pun — in Hebrew the word for “donkey” and the word for “heap” sound the same — and it is all about him: have I slain. Not a word about the Spirit that had just come mightily upon him a verse earlier. Samson keeps taking the credit that belongs to God. It is the exact fault Gideon’s three hundred were reduced to prevent (Judges 7:2).
He Was Sore Athirst, And Called On The LORD
“And he was sore athirst, and called on the LORD, and said, Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant… And God clave an hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water thereout… wherefore he called the name thereof En-hakkore.”
Judges 15:18-19
Spent and dying of thirst, Samson prays for the first time in the record — and notice the shift: now it is “thou hast given this great deliverance,” not “I have slain.” God answers at once, opening a spring in the ground. Samson names the place En-hakkore, “the well of him that called.” Even a proud, self-serving man’s honest cry for help is heard. That is the mercy this whole sad life keeps running on.
